The Black Game of Life and Death
by The Scribe of Death
Summary: The second Blood war was won. That did not mean peace for Harry Potter. Just days after the final battle he stumbles upon a plot that threatens his newly acquired freedom from fate. A journey across new planes of existence begins! (no current definite pairings) Cast includes Harry, Luna, Nymphadora, Fred, George, Arya, and Daenerys. P.S. Harry isn't gay, stop asking for him to be.


_Hey, so this is my first ever fic! It is a continuation of Paperpuscher 101's story 'Game of Gods, Empires and Love'. This is completely sanctioned by Paper puscher 101 so please don't bite my head off. If you want, you could probably just ask him, (mutters sorry to Paper.). The story will pick back up right after I put up chapters 1-7 with a chapter influenced by Paper. WARNING #1 : Chapters will be very sporadic. WARNING #2 This will not be child friendly soooooooo cover your ears kids. NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADIEU, I GIVE YOU_ _ **GAME OF GODS, EMPIRES AND LOVE.**_

Harry James Potter lay inside the hospital wing of Hogwarts or that what previously had been the hospital wing. Now, after the battle of Hogwarts it was a ruin, like much of the old castle. It was just a few days after the final confrontation between him and Voldemort, but many things had changed already, while others stayed the same.

On the side of things that changed was that many muggle-born were now dead and forgotten in some of the camps they had been sent to. Half-bloods were a bit better off. Not by much, though.

On the side of things that stayed the same was that the guilty weren't punished. The Malfoy family being a prime example of this. Sure Narcissa saved his life and he was grateful for that, but it hardly made up for all the harm she had caused by supporting the Pureblood dogma. One good did not wash out countless bad ones. Heck, even the little shit Draco went free despite having cast an Imperius, a so called Unforgivable, on Madame Rosmerta and being responsible for the deaths and torture of countless others. Just because he was too much of a pansy to kill Dumbledore or others didn't mean he had any sort of remorse for his actions. It was self-preservation plain and simple. Under Voldemort it was clear none of them would live long. Overexposure to the Crucio tended to do that.

So, they probably did these things to look good in case Tom should fall. They were Slytherin alumni for a reason. Well, Narcissa was. In case of Lucius and Draco Harry wasn't so sure of their cunning or intelligence.

'You should know.' The all too familiar voice in his head thought as it chuckled in his head, lying in the bed with his name plate on it.

Since he knew of the magical world he had hidden his true nature of being a cunning and intelligent boy. Abilities he had to have while living with his relatives. The last Potter had learned from early on that he had to hide behind a mask of being an insecure boy that longed for companionship. The first of the two was untrue, but the second wasn't. He did yearn for companionship, although the one he sought wasn't found in the magical world. Most people there were sheep and people without a shred of common sense.

Others would immediately say he had Ron and Hermione as friends. That wasn't completely accurate. Harry had to shake his head to banish these thoughts. 'Of course they are my friends!' the raven-haired wizard thought strongly.

'Really?' the voice of his nemesis said mockingly. 'One is a boy more concerned with food and chess rather than surviving.' a dark chuckle followed. 'Even abandoning you in your times of need!'

Ignoring the voice Harry thought about Hermione. She was another case altogether. He had thought hard and long to include her in his schemes, even fought in his mind for it. In the end he decided against it. If only because he didn't want to lose her by scaring her with his... condition.

'She would've turned on you like all the others.' the disembodied voice of Voldemort said apparently concerned for him. Something he knew wasn't true.

Harry shook his head. 'Hermione is smart and wouldn't think that. She would stand by me!' he vehemently defended his best friend.

Harry heard Tom snort at that thought. 'Oh please. The weak muggle-born could learn things verbatim from books, but that doesn't make her intelligent. She is headstrong and wouldn't accept other people's opinion. Only wanting to force them to think like her. If she found a book saying you were irrevocably possessed then she would believe it. Nothing else!'

'You mean just like you force others to accept things they don't believe in?' Harry spat back with venom in his voice. 'Besides, if she would, which i doubt, i still have other friends.' thinking of Ginny, the Quidditch team, Luna, Neville and the Weasley family.

A chilling laugh followed. 'You mean the people listening to gossip and accepting it as fact, abandoning you on the drop of a hat. Or the ones who did nothing to help you in your struggles. Even the teachers. No matter how many Basilisks or Dragons you slay they will never think of you as anything other than their entertainment and plaything.' now the voice grew surprisingly soft. 'You could rule over the sheep. You have the power, the will and anything it takes. You just have to take it.'

'No!' Harry denied for what felt like the thousandth time. Sadly enough it could very well be the case. However he also couldn't deny the whisper of truth in the argument of Tom. He hadn't only hidden his true self all this time, also actions. Nothing malicious, but things that would draw questions to himself.

For example he had gone back into the chamber and harvested the Basilisk himself with spells usually taught in potions. The spell would separate skin, organs etc. from a dead carcass, after he had skinned the beast of its magical-resistant hide of course. Why else would in the Chamber of Secrets now only lie a skeleton? The Basilisk wouldn't have decayed a bit due to the preservation and stasis charms placed inside the chamber by Salazar Slytherin, who wanted his Basilisk to live as long as possible.

'The beast was ours to do with as we please. you've slain it and it belonged to me originally! Any other had no right to it!' Tom said strongly inside Harry's head.

There it also was where all this was kicked off. The Basilisk venom together with the Phoenix tears, the soul-piece stuck in his head and the one in the diary acting in self-defense were what made him that way. As he lay dying from the venom and was just in the process of destroying the diary Tom acted first. Trying to possess him instead of Ginny in a desperate gamble.

The Basilisk venom and his mother's protection had other ideas. A battle ensued that he won and which ended because of the Phoenix tears. The Downside was that he now had more than half of Voldemort's soul inside him. Annoyingly enough Tom now could speak to him. Luckily that too was subdued because of his mother's sacrifice, so possession was out of the question.

Tom scoffed. 'Don't act as if all what happened that day was bad.'

Harry couldn't say so because it wasn't. He got more from it than just a hanger-on that got a ride from him.

The last Potter could practically feel Tom rolling his eyes. 'I would say an Animagus form, a Quetzalcoatl no less, with all the abilities of a Phoenix expect the Tears isn't a bad deal. On top of it you have gotten a better ability than to cry people healthy.' came the sarcastic response. Though Harry couldn't argue that he didn't like the ability to fly without a broom in his Animagus form. A white scaled snake with black flaming wings and intricate golden markings on the hide.

The ability replacing the tears was a kind of gaze, though not like its killing gaze. Harry called it True Seeing. It allowed him to see things as they actually are. See through normal and magical darkness, notice secret doors hidden by magic, see the exact locations of creatures or objects under blur or displacement effects, see invisible creatures or objects normally, see through illusions, and see the true form of changed, or transmuted things. True seeing, however, did not penetrate solid objects. It in no way confers X-ray vision or its equivalent. It did not negate concealment, including that caused by fog and the like. True seeing did not help him see through mundane disguises, spot creatures who are simply hiding, or notice secret doors hidden by mundane means. It also restored his sight so that he didn't need glasses anymore, however he wore false ones anyway, to not arouse suspicion.

The ability also helped him with the Divination spells immensely after putting him on that path. Most of them had to do with the eyes in some way and the whole seeing far into the future business wasn't called the sight for nothing. This allowed him to cast these spells simply through his eyes, much like an experienced Legilimens would do.

'Ah, your third year. Tut, tut Harry, researching useful spells in Divination and not telling your friends. Shame on you.' Tom's voice mock admonished him.

Harry ignored it, no matter how true it was to him. He had found Divination actually useful. Not the stuff with the tea leaves and other such non-sense. No, he wanted to learn Divination in a different manner. Largely Divination was the part of magic that dealt with collecting and processing information. Information and knowledge was power after all.

'Too true, but with the power of the Dark Arts you could've become even more powerful.' Tom argued his case once more. Harry ignored him. Tom always was encouraging Harry to use his knowledge and power. That alone was argument enough for Harry to do the opposite. The reason why he took a look into Divination was, besides his new Animagus form, that Tom didn't know much about it.

Scrying was one example of it. With it one could search objects or persons as long as you had something of the person or a clear mental picture of the object. Diagnostic spells also were such spells, Pensieves, Legilimency, Occlumency and even the map of his father fell under the category of Divination.

The last Potter searched for spells with that allowed him to scan enemies for weaknesses and strengths. Ones that let him see a few seconds into the future to avoid a violent death at their hands and counter accordingly. Even some that gave him a sixth sense of a sort, a Foresight. It would warn him in advance if someone was about to do him harm. If it was a sneak attack or something else was not of importance. A spell to let him know when someone lied to him also was extremely useful. It worked in such a way that it let you see the aura of people and how they reacted when the person lied. Not telling you the truth, only if it was a lie or not.

It was a good thing many disregarded the subject, including Tom, and so he had all the time in the world to learn it with some books no one ever read. There even was a spell that let him comprehend all languages, for a time, but only the written word. He could neither speak nor write it through it. Something that was irrelevant anyway when reading books. Like that a whole bunch of foreign knowledge was opened to him.

It wasn't all good however. The whole situation also influenced his character more than he liked. His rage overtook him sometimes, leaving him fighting for control. The whispers of Tom in his head told tales of greatness and conquest. It influenced him right until this very moment.

Third year was just were it began. With Harry nearly killing his aunt Marge in a uncontrolled rage, when the woman spoke badly about his mother. Also wanting to kill the so called betrayer of his parents and innocent godfather as came out later.

Fourth year Harry had hoped to search for the many Horcruxe Riddle made, having found out about them in a mental fight with Tom at the end of third year.

That plan was foiled by the blasted Goblet of Fire and Barty Crouch Jr. and himself unable to leave at his leisure. Once again being the center of attention. At least the whole fiasco taught him that there existed spells that protected against his True Seeing. He had known about those, but they were so obscure and more on the esoteric side of magic that he hadn't thought the idiots of Britain would have them in their arsenal. Barty Crouch Jr. proved him wrong.

The three challenges were easy for him after he reluctantly accepted Tom's help. He would rather survive and accept the help in form of a truce, than die and possibly leave Tom behind and in charge of his body. The same went for Tom. they didn't know what would happen should the body die. Which soul would go on?

The dragon was simply asked to give him the false egg. Commands wouldn't work on them like they did on full snakes. One of the reasons Voldemort didn't like the beasts. He couldn't control them fully like his minions or snakes. Not to mention that the beings were fiercely proud, so Harry spoke to them, the lizards wouldn't take well to Voldemort's attitude.

An attitude he just so escaped from adopting. The influence grew stronger the more negative emotions he felt, nearly refusing to accept the apology of Ron.

'The boy doesn't deserve your loyalty. He is a weak parasite, wanting only to steal something of OUR glory.'

'You're the parasite here!' Harry countered hotly.

The second saw him simply use Gillyweed and rescue his hostage after he had scried the position of the hostages an hour before.

With the first two out of the way and all calming down a bit he had searched for his first Horcrux via scrying. Harry may have a picture of each Horcrux in his mind, but to concentrate while a Dark Lord tries to do his best and disrupt that concentration didn't help.

After an hour he found the first directly in Hogwarts in a room that wasn't present all the time. His sight showing him the shimmer of magic concealment in the air. It was Ravenclaw's Diadem that he found. Something like that he wouldn't destroy. It was too valuable. Well, Harry wanted to but Tom didn't let him exactly do as he pleased. He finally made a compromise. Harry would take the soul-piece out of the diadem and put it in something else.

Harry used the Horcrux spell that tore out soul-pieces from something and used it to take the one out of the Diadem and store it inside a pure diamond. It also left the enchantments on the artifact active.

Of course, Harry should've destroyed the soul-pieces completely or even tear Voldemort out of himself, but all these attempts would be met with an head-splitting headache and the abortion of such an action.

He stored both, the artifact and gem, inside his expanded trunks that was protected by a Fidelius. Even the Fidelius, a so called charm, was a subject of Divination. Only in the different direction of protecting it from being discovered rather than finding it. Dobby was the secret keeper. A House Elf would never betray his master after all. Also, Harry trusted the little guy. Even Tom didn't know where the piece was, because the secret was in Harry's soul not his. They were still separate beings.

Then happened the third task. Without the knowledge of Barty Crouch Jr. being a Death Eater he fell right into it. He maybe could look a few seconds into the future, but not hours, days or even years. That was reserved for true seers that could make prophecies. In the graveyard Harry learned one thing. Namely, that he was fucked. Utterly fucked. Voldemort would fuck his ass like he owned it as they were right now.

'At least you learned that you didn't had a chance of besting me in combat.' Tom boasted as Harry remembered the fourth task.

Harry growled back. 'Yes,' he bit out. 'but i am not the one who lost in the end!' both were silent after that. Wondering who really won. With an ease born out of practice Harry banished these thoughts and Tom to the back of his mind and resumed going down memory lane in an Occlumency effort.

The last Potter just so escaped the graveyard, due to his Foresight warning him of people that were about to harm him, his ability to see his enemies future actions, luck, the fact that Voldemort was playing with him and his lightning fast reflexes. The spell to show his enemies weaknesses and strengths did its job in-between. Voldemort's list of strengths was long and his list of weaknesses short, but it were big ones.

Magically, physically and mentally speaking as well as experience wise Tom had the absolute edge. Having enhanced himself with various rituals, potions etc. Harry couldn't hope to win a duel against Tom as he was at that point in time. The horde of Followers was also a problem. So, he escaped narrowly with the cup portkey.

Voldemort's weaknesses were his arrogance, thinking he was truly immortal and perfect. His inability to trust anyone, but himself and his Horcruxe. They indeed made him immortal in a sense, however these objects also took away parts of his psyche each time he split his soul. Making him more and more irrational and having left him with little emotion but his fury and sadistic glee.

Heck, the piece inside Harry had more of an emotional range than the being known as Voldemort.

With that handled his fifth year began. Occlumency was an immense help to this. Letting him learn faster, remember things clearer and protect his mind. Neither Tom nor Snape taught him that, but Harry himself. Like all it had a downside. It was true that he could block out people, though that didn't mean the one already in his head.

Fifth year was also the one where Harry decided to close the distance between himself and Voldemort some more. He brewed six potions with the help of Tom that would be the first steps on that path. Normally Tom would've refused, but Harry's argument that Voldemort wanted him dead and that he therefore would die too did the trick. Tom still was most afraid of dying and fear was a good motivator.

Potions he brewed were the Girding Potion to enhance his stamina and endurance, a strengthening solution to give him half of the strength a troll possessed. Others were the memory potion to enhance his ability to recall and the Wit-sharpening potion to allow him to think more clearly.

The last was the Beautification potion more out of a desire to shut Tom up. Apparently not willing to live in such a substandard container. To stop the rants he simply prepared and took it.

It enhanced the attractiveness of the drinker's physical appearance and muscle mass was enhanced and perfected. The potion removed all physical imperfections (like warts, moles, scars, blemish, freckles, unwanted hair, etc), the teeth whitened and became perfect, the voice became more compelling, alluring, melodic, and seductive, the bodily scent became extremely pleasant and compelling. The potion granted him a perfect body, with smooth flawless skin, perfect beautiful everlasting dark silky hair, golden-proportioned body and muscles, and "well-endowments".He ended up possessing a level of grace, physical beauty and handsomeness, sense of style and social poise above that commonly found in others. He began to radiate an aura of attractiveness, naturally inducing pleasure and desire while subtly lifting inhibitions. The affected targets remained fully themselves, but can't help but long for the user's favor and affection. He could attract others, making them feel a pull towards himself, even if they can't justify it, and feel immediately bonded. He also ended up with unnaturally high charisma, or charm, enabling him to gain the trust and loyalty of others and win them over, making it no longer a matter of popularity or skill, but a blessing.

All these were permanent and real due to the Potions made permanent with the help of Alchemy and Transmutation. The first four potions were taken to get him near to Voldemort's level, while the Beautification potion was taken mainly to remove his scars and slight malnutrition, beside the desire to shut Tom up. At that point he had already been too far into puberty to fix all the damage done by the Dursleys with normal treatment. At least it gave him a growth spurt to six feet.

Even Voldemort had used it, more intent to get the charisma and grace from it. With success like one could clearly see. How would all these dangerous murderers follow him willingly when all he did was torture them to keep them in line? The danger of that would only work for so long, but the charisma he had acquired this way did the rest for Tom.

The raven-haired teen also had to use illusions that let him look, smell and sound like his old self. Tom wasn't nagging him as much as before, but that didn't mean he could just one day show up looking completely different without questions being asked.

Besides the potions he also had searched for more information in the Black library. Copying every book Harry switched the copies for the originals and put them in his expanded trunk. He then let the Order clean out the "dangerous" books. While he was at it Harry found another Horcrux by accident. It was the locket and like the Diadem he wouldn't destroy a founder's artifact. This one, he found out, protected the wearer from small physical projectiles like arrows, bullets or other little things like glass shards, rock or metal flung at the wearer magically, while wearing it. All such things would be disintegrated upon touching the invisible shield the powerful Parseltongue artifact created. That too was cleansed with the soul-piece joining the other two inside the gem.

Nothing good could last and the Department of Mysteries fiasco happened. It wasn't a complete disaster all things considered. Harry did get some useful artifacts out of the Department. A time-turner, before they were all destroyed, for example. It may have been due to Tom's insistence, but Harry saw at least the wisdom in having such useful artifacts.

After the fighting was done he had gone back in time to try and safe Sirius. Obviously it couldn't work. Things that you knew already happened were irreversible. So, with a heavy heart he decided to at least get some thing good out of that all. He looted the Department of other artifacts. A Pensieve was retrieved together with other artifacts. A flat oval-shaped piece of fissured dark gray bark with a triangle of three circles scratched on its inner surface. Next came a scepter fashioned from a gray-hued length of wood with nine sapphires along its length. The upper end had a diamond on it that was shining with a deep golden energy. Scepter of Savras stood on the plate where it lay. Harry honestly didn't know why he took it these things. Some entirely unremarkable. Though, one could never know with magic. That it laid together with the other things for "unknown" was a point for it.

Following that came a cauldron that could multiply all that was cooked or prepared in it a hundred fold. The cauldron of Dagda out of the legend of Tuatha Dé Danann.

Like all such legends and artifacts Wizards were the source. Just like in Greece with their "Gods" the Olympians, in Egypt and other old cultures, it were wizards that were these gods. It even fit with the Inbreeding thing. After all it was one of the most popular and easy ways the nobility used to keep power inside the family. The family tree of those were nearly straight as an arrow.

After Harry looted these he had gone back to Hogwarts a few artifacts richer, but also a godfather poorer. Next followed Dumbledore's lackluster explanation of the Prophecy. Harry nearly lost control and attack the Headmaster with Tom urging him on. He just so avoided it, instead devastating the office of the old goat.

After that came another few weeks in prison with the Dursleys. Like Harry did since second year he trained his body. A fit opponent was less likely to be hit and not being there was the best defense in his opinion. His divination spells only helped in that regard. After all if he was too slow he could foresee it, but not dodge or react accordingly.

In sixth year only a few remarkable things happened. First they got a new Potions teacher. Professor Slughorn may seem like a slimy bastard, but he revealed himself to be a nice guy and taught the subject better than Snape ever did. The book he found helped too. He didn't dispose of it just because his friends wanted him to. The book didn't make the decision to attack Draco, Harry did.

The next big event was that Dumbledore told Harry that he had destroyed another Horcrux. The Gaunt family ring. Harry had tried locating all of the remaining ones, but only found Nagini. Probably because of wards preventing scrying on the remaining two. Nagini was a living Horcrux and therefore couldn't really be located per se, moving as she was. Not to mention that she was near Voldemort most of the time.

Despite Tom screaming at him to take the ring for himself he fought the urge down. He knew Voldemort choose powerful magical artifacts to house parts of his soul, but it wouldn't do to reveal that he knew what the ring was in front of Albus. At least he now had three pieces inside the gem after the one from the ring joined them.

A rather important thing, if not the most important, was that Harry won Felix Felicis. He could've used it for a wide variety of things, but decided to use it to find information on Horcruxe, other than the memory of Slughorn. Felix delivered and he found a book from the Black library to which the potion guided him.

It described how a magical could bind his soul and life-force to an object. In essence Horcrux creation. That wasn't all however. The book also told him how to influence or weaken the maker of the Horcruxe. With that he gained at least some reprieve from the constant presence inside his head and his hope to defeat Voldemort rose.

The second to last occurrence, aside from Hermione trying to make Ron jealous and him going to Slughorn's party with Luna, was that Harry went with Dumbledore to a cave. Where Albus thought was another Horcrux. Harry knew the old man was wrong, however the first attempt at forcing Tom to submit with the new found knowledge backfired and left Riddle temporarily in control.

The shameful thing was that Harry nearly believed Tom and wanted to do these things he did.

Tom whispered of revenge for putting him with the Dursleys, forcing him to go back every year and not telling him the truth regarding matters of life and death for him. The old man protected Snape, a traitor to both sides and so many more failures on the cap of Dumbledore.

The prophecy was just a small part of it. He didn't even prepare Harry properly for the fight that was to come. Causing Harry to agree for a second with Tom, that Albus only wanted to sacrifice Harry so that Voldemort could die, according to the Prophecy anyway. First crushing Harry's will to life and then throwing him unprepared in front of Voldemort.

Well, Tom wouldn't let the old man do so. Probably only because Dumbledore wanted to destroy his Horcruxe. Dumbledore would die anyway from the withering curse. He just sped it up a little.

Despite that Tom couldn't really do much with Harry blocking him at nearly every turn, but he could do nothing in Harry's body or appear useless at least. Why else would he go near the lake, which was sure to attract the Inferi to the surface? Why else would he suddenly "forget" that Inferi were weak to fire and use cutting curses and even disarming spells? Things completely ineffective to the undead. In an emergency he could call for the House-elf Kreacher to get him out. One thing he had learned after Harry found the Locket.

Seeing the old man lie dying in that crystal cave was worth it for Tom. Sadly Dumbledore was more resilient than his old age suggested and fought of the effects caused by the Drink of Despair. While Tom was disappointed Harry was impressed with the old wizard, he was hard to kill and powerful enough to conjure a ring of fire to fend of the Inferi while weakened.

Following that came the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. After the Death Eaters were repelled and fled, Harry pursued Snape in the hopes to kill him. Snape tried using Legilimency to predict Harry's attacks, but Harry surprised him by his Tom fueled rage and having full Occlumency shields in place. It seemed Snape wasn't much loved by Harry's version of Voldemort.

The Reducto followed by a vicious spell barrage had nearly took Snape's life. Harry decimated Snape and nearly killed him. Hadn't he recognized it as something Tom wanted him to do, then Snape would've died earlier than he did. Shortly after that the man responsible for his parents death escaped by disapparating.

Following that came Dumbledore's funeral, where he broke up with Ginny. Having wanted to at least give her a chance, but the feeling just wasn't there. All that did not even take into account Tom's mocking commentary inside his head that she looked like his long lost twin sister. At least he shut up when he kissed her, the feeling of compassion and love poisonous to the soul-piece of Voldemort.

After that the summer and the mad plan of bringing Harry to the Weasley house per broom while having seven copies of him around. Harry wondered later why they couldn't have used muggle transportation, apparition or a portkey. Like that no one would've died and Moody together with Hedwig would still be alive.

The will reading of Dumbledore was next, where Harry got a snitch that held the Resurrection Stone.

'Albus really should've thought of a better riddle.' Tom mused inside Harry's head as the emerald eyed-wizard traced the black stone on the ring he had on his right hand. Causing Harry to again banish him back where he came from. Manipulating the soul-piece like the book from the Black library showed him. Luckily Tom had no magic of his own to access in this form.

After that came the attack on Bill and Fleur's wedding, which was followed by the Horcrux hunt with Hermione and Ron.

It was more difficult than he thought to keep secrets while in such a confined space. He couldn't tell them that he already had destroyed Horcruxe so they searched for the Locket first. It being the most obvious, due to Harry and Dumbledore's mission to the cave. Both, Hermione and Ron, having heard the story of that adventure. Highly edited, of course. The whole keeping secrets and Dark Lord in his head thing only let him look like he had no plan, which was annoying, but not unmanageable.

After Albus and him had gotten the fake locket from the cave Harry had left the thing in the House of Black as a gift for Kreacher. However, it seemed Fletcher was still a thief and sold it to the useless toad, who claimed it as a family heirloom. Something that was ridiculous as she was no pureblood. It was fitting, just as she was no pureblood the locket wasn't the original either.

More difficult was to sell that thing as an genuine article. With Ron it was easy. The youngest Weasley male was extremely susceptible to believe whatever one said or sold as fact. The one time Harry had pretended to fill Ron's goblet with liquid luck was proof enough of that.

'Or Ron simply had shown his true colors in front of real adversary.'Tom interrupted mentally, causing Harry to concentrate further on blocking him out, loosing himself again in memories. The hated voice fading back into the background.

Therefore Harry didn't let Hermione wear it as often, because she would probably suspect was something wrong and he pretended to take the "burden" on himself once Ron was gone.

While searching for the remaining Horcruxe Harry used the Resurrection Stone to summon ghosts that knew details about Horcruxe and how to manipulate them. The book was well and good, but a teacher was better. Herpo the Foul was one such teacher. Even though he had had a Horcrux some other wizards were able to destroy it. Thus killing him. It was lucky that the ghost was bound to answer by the artifact otherwise Harry doubted the bitter old ass would've answered at all.

Then one night in Godric's Hollow near the house of his parents he was able to scry Nagini, like he tried every night. Not one to let such an opportunity slip through his fingers he pursued the snake in hopes of using her to weaken Voldemort with his newly learned spells. Unfortunately the beast proved too slippery and resilient to catch, so Harry tried to kill it with Hermione, unfortunately it escaped.

It had taken quite a bit of willpower to suppress the feeling of rage Tom send him and put on a different demeanor. His acting skill prevailed, however. After that the duo was joined again by Ron. With the fake locket destroyed by Harry some weeks back to set Hermione at ease Harry wore the real one in guise of the false one. Pretending it would be foolish to throw away a founders artifact.

Next came the skirmish at Malfoy Manor after they had been captured by snatchers. The Xeno Lovegood triggering the Taboo in hopes of getting his daughter back.

After once more subjugated Tom the group rescued Luna, Ollivander, Griphook and Dean Thomas out of the dungeons. Dobby survived, luckily. The real locket of Slytherin had destroyed the knife thrown by Bellatrix due to Dobby's close proximity to Harry. No one questioned it. After all the knife simply could've been too slow, which it was. When you asked Harry. Fortunately the projectile hadn't been too big to be destroyed by the shield.

Following that the trio broke into Gringotts to get the cup out of the Lestrange vault. Hermione having proposed that Tom would've given the items to his most loyal follower. In hindsight it was obvious, just like that Griphook would betray them to get the Sword of Gryffindor. Goblins were greedy and mistrustful by nature and would do anything to get at gold or items of value. Items that they saw as theirs, like things crafted by them. That Harry wanted to give it to him was of no consequence apparently. Well, Griphook got his due when Voldemort killed him in a rage.

The escape on the dragon out of the bank was spectacular and Harry doubted that was the last he had seen from the goblins. Though that did not matter at the time. The only thing important was that he had the last Horcrux from Voldemort besides Nagini. Next he influenced Voldemort through the soul-pieces he had gathered inside the gem, which now held all expect Nagini, Voldemort and the one in himself.

Despite having only one day remaining it was enough with all the tutelage he got from Herpo over the last year. The effects should considerably weaken Voldemort in mind and magic. Harry had given Hermione and Ron one of the many duplicate cups out of the vault, so that they wouldn't notice that he cleansed the cup already. The duplicate had charms on it that would let it look like a Horcrux was destroyed, of course. The effects were quite good if he said so himself.

All went off without a hitch. Luckily Luna had helped him convince Hermione and Ron that the Diadem of Ravenclaw was in the Room of Requirement. Luna being the only one knowing his secret. though, the look she gave him indicated something he couldn't identify nor had he time for it. A quick conjuration later and a perfect double stood where the original previously was.

Naturally, useless Malfoy had to appear with his bookends. Luckily Hermione and Ron assumed the Diadem was destroyed by the Fiendfyre. At that point he save Malfoy only because he hoped the ferret would change. As evident in him escaping punishment that had been a foolish hope.

Of course Harry wouldn't be so stupid and go in front of Voldemort without insurance. The gem with Voldemort's soul piece had floated invisible before him. A simple levitation charm was easy to do wandlessly. Only Harry could see it with his True Seeing and when the time had come he used it to block the killing curse. The backlash send him tumbling down and Voldemort was knocked down, too. Probably from the close proximity to his soul-piece he had been in.

What Harry hadn't anticipated was that the piece from the gem immediately latched onto the biggest soul piece in the vicinity, Harry. Much like in the night on Halloween sixteen years ago.

Nagini and Voldemort still lived, so Harry had pretended to be dead. He knew Voldemort couldn't stop gloating and would "present" his body to the school. Intent to break the moral of the defenders. It was kind of funny to hear another Tom scream curses at his counterpart for believing a Malfoy.

In the end Neville cut off the snake's head, saving the day so that Harry could kill Tom once and for all, but also making the soul complete inside Harry's body. The last two piece joining the rest that resided inside him.

It all could've been so much easier and faster if Harry simply had been able to tell Hermione and Ron what was going on, but that would lead to more questions and attention. Attention was the last thing he wanted. Least of all from the Ministry. If it came out that he had Voldemort inside his head then the Veil of Death was the thing he could look forward to. The last Potter doubted the ignorant idiots would listen to explanations or the like. Even sacrificing their so called savior.

So here he lay in the hospital wing a few days after the Battle of Hogwarts took place. Mostly faking to be out cold, while weighting the pros and cons of revealing the situation to his friends.

A few moments before the sun had gone up, waking Harry up. He may sleep like a rock, but sunlight woke him up every time it fell on him. In the time after his awakening he had pondered the past and how he should get rid of Voldemort inside him once and for all.

His musings were interrupted by the door swinging open. It wasn't Hermione or Ron, those two were busy mourning Fred, while also being merged at the mouths. He also missed Fred, but the Weasley family "only" lost one of their own while he lost the last connection to his parents in form of Professor Lupin. Like Sirius he may not have known the man all that well and the werewolf did not once check up on him while at Privet Drive number 4, but Harry had looked past that. At least Tonks survived. Why she had given Remus the ice-cold shoulder and he ignoring her was one more mystery to Harry. He had thought both had been happy together with their child.

"Hello Harry." Luna chirped to him as she floated towards his side. Not floating in the sense of walking, but literally floating with a levitation charm. Reason being that the quirky girl had lost her legs at the thighs to a dark cutting curse. The legs had disintegrated shortly after, making reattachment impossible. At least she lived, unlike most other students. None had even a little chance against fully trained vampires, giants, were-wolfs or wizards who ruthlessly used dangerous magic, while they were stuck with disarming spells and shields.

"Hello, Luna." Harry smiled back at her and waved her over. "How are you?" He was glad to have her here. A friend would keep him busy and not thinking about Tom and how to get rid of him.

Luna just shrugged seemingly unconcerned. "As good as someone who has lost her legs can be, I suppose." a vacant smile appearing on her face with her big silver eyes getting a far away look.

It only caused Harry to sigh. "Luna, we have been over this. You don't have to hide." Having been her only friend for the better part of a year he had found out quite a bit about her. Luna's mother had died when she was young. If that wasn't enough young Luna had witnessed it. The father Xeno Lovegood wasn't the same afterward and tried to explain misfortune or bad things happening with mystical creatures that did not exist. Not that she told him that in the beginning, but after showing himself trustworthy she did.

Trust was a two way street, though like all she went about it in an odd way. One day she said it was only fair that she trusted him, because he trusted her with having Voldemort's soul inside him. The problem was that he didn't say a thing about that to her. Struck speechless she assured him that she wouldn't tell anyone. Since then she was a good friend and rock that kept him from going bonkers.

The mask of the dopey girl vanished replaced with a normal looking one. She was still odd and had her unique quirks, but the far away look was gone. Instead there was a sharp gaze replacing it. "I'm sorry." she apologized. It was hard to suppress the mask now after having used it for so long. "How are you doing, is Tom gone?" she asked curiously with a raised brow.

Harry shook his head in the negative. "No, he only is complete now." it was said with a bitter edge. Thankfully Harry could suppress Voldemort now pretty good with the help of his mother's sacrifice that made his very being toxic to Voldemort. He broke out now and again, but as long as he didn't experience strong negative emotion he was relatively safe from being taken over.

The silence stretched a bit longer until Harry broke contact with Luna's unflinching gaze. He knew what she wanted, but he was still uncomfortable with his now very different body. A tired sigh escaped him as he dropped the illusion, revealing his true body and not the scrawny one. "Better?"

Luna tilted her head to the side as her eyes roamed over his newly revealed form. She had seen the tell-tale signs of an illusion at the end of fifth year, but couldn't look under it. Without breaking it anyway and she doubted Harry would've appreciated it. "Yes, but that doesn't remove all the other layers of secrets of the onion that is Harry Potter." The lithe girl was by now sitting on his chest. He had shared much with her, though not all and she wasn't pushing him to do so.

Harry just chuckled dryly and without humor. "Really? I hope I don't make you cry when you try to peel my layers away." putting his hands on her hips to keep her steady on his lap. Without her legs whole to support her Luna could fall off him quite easily. "But you didn't answer my question properly." his emerald eyes were looking directly into her silver eyes he asked once more "How are you feeling?"

Now it was Luna's turn to sigh as she bent down to lay her head on his shoulder her arms encircling his head. She could whispered into his ear. "I will miss being able to dance. Feeling the grass, earth, stone, mud or water beneath my toes." muffled sobs escaped her lips and a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks as the distraction she had tried didn't work like she thought.

Harry stroked her back as Luna cried into his shoulder, having known that she liked to walk barefoot. After her shoes being stolen so often she had developed a liking for it.

He himself was fortunate enough to not have received any lasting injury. Most others weren't so lucky. During the battle Harry had seen many bodies lying on the floor dead or bleeding out with many missing a limb or two. A good couple were infected with the were-wolf disease and others had been bitten by vampires and sucked dry or were transformed. With their superior strength, speed, magical resistance and endurance the beasts had made short work of most students. A good number had been robbed of their soul by the Dementors. Only Harry's potions enhanced body and strict training regime kept him alive.

A few minutes went by until Luna had no more tears to spill. "Feeling better?" Harry asked softly as he continued to stroke her back.

"Yes." a small hiccup accompanying the statement. The silence was comfortable until the silver-eyed girl broke it. "How are you feeling?" she finally asked in turn, though she didn't let go of his neck. Knowing that it wasn't over until he somehow managed to banish Tom from his being without dying in the process.

"I don't know." the emerald-eyed wizard said honestly. Before the blonde girl could ask further he went on. "My whole time in the wizarding world was marked by Voldemort and the goal of defeating him once and for all. It is nearly finished and i even have an idea how i want to get rid of him. After that i have no clue or plan."

Luna righted herself so that she could look him in the eyes. "You can do anything you want and set your mind to." she said just as honestly as he did. "You have more power in the tip of your nose than most wizards have in their lives. You can travel the world, delve into the mysteries of magic or simply make a family of your own. You just have to decide."

"Thanks Luna." Harry responded with a smile. "Still, I will have to show Ron and Hermione my true self together with explaining what really went on with me and I don't know if they will like that I deceived them for so long." Not to mention that such a drastic change would draw attention. "And when I hid something like that from them for so long they will ask what else I kept hidden?" it could only end badly. The smile was being replaced with a worried frown.

The blonde simply kept looking into his emerald orbs. She took the glasses from his nose, knowing they were just decoration at that point. "That is entirely possible," she never was one to beat around the bush. "though when they are your friends, your real friends, then it won't matter to them. You have protected them and they you during the whole Hogwarts years after all." twirling the glasses in her hands she finally set them aside on the nightstand.

Harry released a sigh as his shoulders relaxed a bit. "You're right, of course." after a bit more silence he asked uncomfortable with the subject, but too curious not to breach it. "Who survived?"

Luna didn't answer for a long time, but just as Harry wanted to dismiss the topic she answered softly. "Not many. Hermione, Hannah Abbot, Nymphadora, Susan Bones, Neville, Fleur and the Weasley family expect Fred are the ones i personally know that have survived. Though, apparently more than a few Death Eaters survived as well." thinking a bit more she went on. "The younger years were betrayed by the Slytherins being evacuated with them and nearly all of the first to fifth years were killed. The tunnel had collapsed, burying them with it." her voice by now hollow.

Harry's hands balled into fists automatically. "And what is to be done with these cowardly traitors?" he asked harshly, his voice colder than an arctic winter.

Luna put on a sad smile and responded. "They will be put on trial, naturally." her body shook a little as it felt the vibrations sent out from Harry's growling.

"Meaning the poor Imperius victims will be set free by bribing some judge or witness, before doing it all over again." Harry barely contained his voice as to not shout in rage. His anger left him as soon as it came. His head hitting the pillow in mental and emotional exhaustion. "Was it all for nothing?" it certainly seemed that way. Magical Britain was crippled beyond anything Harry thought possible. Nearly all muggle-born were dead or had fled. Half-bloods weren't much better off. He guessed Purebloods and the rest were equal in numbers now. Maybe three-hundred people remaining in total.

'You could easily take control. Show the sheep what a true predator can do. You even have the allegiance of the strongest wand in existence!' The seductive whisper of Tom came again. By that point Harry growled deeply, knowing that Voldemort just waited for the right moment to break out, somehow. In the meantime he would do as he always did.

"Never think that!" Luna's now sharp voice cutting through his thoughts like a hot knife through butter. After a few deep breaths she went on. "If you hadn't killed that vile piece of filth Voldemort then all muggle-born together with the rest would've died under his rule." her voice growing stronger the further she talked. This time the harsh quality was missing replaced with her usual soft one. She doubted Voldemort would've had the political or economic understanding to govern a country successfully. He was powerful, but outside of torturing or threatening he couldn't do much. Fear could take one only so far. Someday when the people had nothing more to lose it was ineffective and he would rule over ashes, after having killed the rebels.

The silence stretched again, this time with Harry deep in thought. "Its just that nothing seems to change." Harry lamented. After all they and he especially had done nothing was different. Muggle-born would still be on the bottom of the pecking order and Purebloods on top.

Luna hummed in thought and agreed. "The more things change the more they stay the same." causing Harry to chuckle weakly. She laid down on his chest again. Besides the feeling of safety it gave her she found out that shows of affection weakens Tom.

Nothing more could be said as both lay in comfortable silence once more. More than a few minutes later the door opened again. This time Nymphadora Tonks entered or tried to. Like nearly all participants she had suffered injury. She had been subjected to the burning skull curse. The spell was one of the few pure dark ones and it would make the victims eyes and tongue burn out, the ears would shrivel and brain damage was guaranteed as well. It also left the victim alive to suffer the rest of its life. When one could call such an existence life.

In Tonks case the spell hadn't had enough time to do all the damage before the caster had been killed by her and the spell dispelled. Thus, it only took her eyesight and ability to speak. It would've been better if it hadn't hit at all, but that was still better than suffering the full effects of the spell.

"Hello Tonks." Harry greeted the now mute woman with Luna following shortly after.

Both only received a halfhearted wave in their general direction. Though, it seemed the distraction caused the now gray-haired woman to crash into several things while not feeling for objects before her, finishing with a bed. Upon crashing into the mattress she lay motionless with her head down, shoulders shaking. It only got more intense as time went on and her agitation increased. Even going so far as to unleash accidental magic that devastated her surroundings, which took a truly bad state of mind at that age to accomplish.

Harry couldn't bear it any longer and walked over to the bed with the Ex-Auror in it, after putting Luna back into the air. The blonde now floating behind him. Both were skillfully evading the flying objects with Luna levitating around the many floating things. 'How are you Tonks?' he asked mentally conveying the message through Legilimency. It would've been a difficult conversation when one party couldn't speak or see sign language, something he didn't even know how to do.

As soon as he said that Nymphadora sat straight up and faced him directly. Her eyes were covered by a blindfold to hide the holes she now had instead of eyes. 'How do you think?' she responded scathingly. 'I can't speak or cry not even tears spill from the holes where my eyes used to be. Pretty damn awful that's how I am!' the mental shout only emphasizing the point that she was miserable. More objects flew angrily around her and crashed against walls or furniture. No one came to check though. Madame Pomfrey had been killed early in the battle. It was the simple one on one of war. Kill the healers first. 'On top of it I crash into nearly anything and not just into a few things like before.'

In hindsight it had been a stupid question to ask. "Sorry." Harry apologized sheepishly, forgetting to do so over the mental link.

'Its not your fault.' came the reply after a mournful sigh. Her mouth twisted into a grimace. Anger returning. 'This all just makes me so angry! They all celebrate like we won, but we did not!' the mental voice carried every bit of anguish and pain in it that would be expected of someone in such a situation. 'I lost my whole family just like you and many others. They slaughtered us and destroyed our families like it was nothing.'

Harry let her vent all her frustration and anger. Simply sitting next to her and hugging her. Not saying a word.

'And what did most of them lose?' she asked, but did not give him time to answer. Not that the raven-haired wizard intended to. 'NOTHING!' she roared was somewhat true. The dark wizards had mostly used the dark creatures and giants as shields and vanguard. The presence of Dementors didn't make anything easier for the defenders. Most deaths therefor were these beings and not the Death Eaters.

'They lost nothing, expect their non-existent pride and pathetic self-worth. Things one can regain, but they took nearly everything we had. Are they getting punished for it? Of course not!' it didn't make it better that she had been an Auror. Two days past Kingsley explained that she couldn't serve anymore due to injury she lost all she had.

'I lost my mother, father, son, job, mentor and anything else that meant something to me.' the mental wail was not something Harry wanted to experience once more. Although, it was curious that Tonks didn't count Remus to the things she lost.

'You had a son with Remus? But why did you ignore him entirely before the battle then?' he asked without thinking it through, but thankfully the Metamorphagus answered, angrier and sadder than before. Both emotions clashing horribly.

Though, not before a defeated and tired sigh escaped her lips, but the harshness of the message wasn't affected by it. 'Remus left me in the middle of the pregnancy. No reason as to why, not even a proper goodbye. No nothing.' After a brief silence she decided to simply tell them. It wasn't as if the months of sulking had done anything for her. 'I was devastated, depressed and didn't know what to think. Before I knew it I went into labor, not knowing that the state of mind the mother was in also affected the child.'

An icy, uncomfortable feeling settled into his stomach. From all the knowledge he had pursued healing was one of them. Emotions affected magic and not only magical children, but also adults. Even more so for a pregnant witch, whose child was connected to her. A good example for this was Merope Gaunt. The woman was thought to have been a squib, but in truth her depression and self-doubt caused by the hands of her family was responsible for crippling her magically. Once they were dead she had flourished.

However, her happiness lasted not for very long. After the father of Tom Riddle run away from her, effectively breaking her heart, she only lived long enough to deliver her child, dying shortly after.

In Tonks case it seemed the opposite was true. The child dying instead of the mother. Harry didn't know what was worse. He came out of his thoughts as the Metamorphagus continued. 'My son was stillborn. The healer said all the negative emotions I had during the last half of my pregnancy served to weaken him and the birth was too much for him. Of course that my father and mother died shortly before the birth at the hand of the bitch Bellatrix hadn't helped.' while she explained that no tears came out of her eyes and no hiccup out of her throat. Despite wanting nothing more than to cry, she was unable to do so.

By now she simply talked. The dam holding it back having broken before. 'I originally came here to die.' she admitted to him. 'However, once I saw Remus here a cold rage settled into my stomach. All exploded as he wanted to talk to me and asked about our child. He had the gall to claim my son as his own!' a growl clearly evident in her mind. 'That man left me, causing MY son to die and has the nerve to ask that. In that moment I realized how pitiful and weak he truly was. How pitiful and weak i was to lose my son because of such a man.'

Her mother had warned her about Remus, but at that point in time she had assumed it was the age difference or Lycanthropy. 'Taking his affliction to hide behind, to conceal how weak and pathetic he is in reality. After seeing that all affection for him left me and I resolved to not run from my problems. Anything would be better than to be like him!'

Harry hadn't a high opinion of Professor Lupin either. What kind of friend would leave the child of one of his only friends, who accepted him how he was, to uncertainty? Never asking Dumbledore for the address to visit or anything at all? The man had been well versed in the muggle world and it would've been an easy feat for him to navigate through it. Nothing of the sort happened and after the third year contact broke again up and all because he had insecurity issues for a thing Harry couldn't care less about? Once more Nymphadora broke up his own thoughts with her rant after snorting mentally.

'He only had to endure the stares once people knew about his affliction, which only came up once a month. Something that isn't very different for pretty much every woman on the planet.' Harry had to suppress the laugh that threatened to come out at her rant. For some reason Luna's shoulders shook. Not that Harry saw that with her behind him. 'I myself was easily identifiable as different with my hair circling colors and all. People and especially Purebloods looked at me and sneered, while thinking how much of a freak I am. Though, that didn't stop most of the male population to ask me out for my powers.'

Trying to console her he said. 'If it makes you feel better I was considered a freak by my relatives and by the majority of Hogwarts after it came out that I am a Parseltongue. Not to mention that whole business with surviving the killing curse.' Now sitting beside Tonks he went on. 'So, what I am trying to say is your not alone. I am sure the Weasley family will always have their door open to you.' putting an arm around the witch to console her only caused said witch to bury herself into his chest. A few minutes passed before anything more happened.

'And If it makes you feel even better I also have lost my whole family.' Luna chimed in, having created a link through Harry by using her own Legilimency. Apparently thinking that misery liked company.

Surprise flashed through Harry's eyes, having not expected that. Though, he supposed it shouldn't surprise him. When one used Legilimency then the person couldn't defend with Occlumency at the same time. The door was either an open or a closed one.

'Luna?' Tonks asked equally surprised. Luna's, once more, serene expression stopped her from complaining or ask how. Mentally transmitted picture of course.

"I thought your father survived." Harry half-asked half-stated. The second and last time he had seen the man was at the rookery, Luna's home, after he had betrayed them to the Death Eaters to get Luna released. Harry hadn't liked it, but understood. However, he didn't expect the Death Eaters to kill a willing helper.

The silver-eyed girl shook her head in sorrow with her eyes closed and said with a slight hitch to her voice. "No. The Death Eaters put him in Azkaban after they failed to capture you, Hermione and Ron. Probably out of spite. It was more petty than anything, but my father wasn't all there to begin with after my mother's death and Azkaban did him no favors." Meaning the Dementors or their presence killed him.

"I am sorry." Harry said honestly. Not even knowing for what he was sorry for. Maybe for not defending her father or maybe for her losing Xeno, because of sadistic and cruel people.

Luna waved him off with a sad look on her face. "It isn't your fault." In that moment no one could've recognized the quirky and odd girl that was Luna Lovegood. Instead there was a steel in her eyes rarely seen. "It is Nott's, Malfoy's, Bulstrode's, Crabbe's and Goyle's fault!" venom clear in her voice for all to hear. Even Tonks seemed caught off guard by the tone Luna used.

Confused he asked "How is it their fault? They were here at the castle. Weren't they?" Tonks was nodding along with his question, also wanting to know how. After all she had poured herself out here first. It was only fair in her opinion.

The razor's edge of her voice didn't break as Luna explained. "Yes, but they were the ones that helped to capture me when I proved too much a nuisance through Dumbledore's Army and brought me to Malfoy Manor." The so called Aurors had been the ones to catch her, but that information wouldn't go over well with Tonks, Luna supposed.

"I see." He really did. Without that happening her father wouldn't have had any reason to betray Harry and his friends. Preventing that disaster altogether.

The anger did not dissipate this time. All of their emotions were swinging like a pendulum from anger to sadness and back. Luna's staying on anger for the moment. All other emotions were unavailable for the moment, with the wounds still too raw. "They reveled in the power they had. Torturing students and even doing worse, much worse..." the blonde couldn't go on as she buried herself in Harry's chest, having floated in front of him.

Harry's arms just closed around her smaller frame instinctively, hugging her tightly. Basically doing what he had wanted someone to do when he lost people precious to him. Also repaying the favor for when she consoled him after Sirius died. Noticing that Tonks shifted uncomfortably Harry summoned her into the hug, causing Nymphadora to squeak. Ultimately she too settled down. Normally he didn't like crying girls, but with all they went through he would have to be a total git to deny them to cry at his shoulder.

During that all a weight of lead had settled in Harry's stomach. 'Did they rape her?' he thought, hoping against it with all he had. Harry was desperately wishing it wasn't true, while also not wanting to ask such a sensitive and possibly volatile question to find out the truth.

In the end he just at least had to ask. "Did they...?" more words did not come out of his mouth. His throat was dry and constricting itself, denying the last Potter the ability to speak. Not that he was really knowing how to go about it.

Though, Luna seemed to know what he was asking and shook her heads into his chest. "No," Luna began. "they did not. Apparently they couldn't decide how to go about it." a few hiccups wracked her small body interrupting her answer. "Finally, I heard how they were going to force my father to go first and then have turns after killing him." the more she talked the more her body shook and her speech grew incoherent through the sobs. Tonks repositioned herself so that she could hug the blonde as well.

Harry's anger returned at that information. How anybody, be it her dorm-mates or Death Eaters, could be so horrible and vile to someone as sweet as Luna wasn't known to Harry. One thing was clear, if Harry should find out their names and if they were still alive he would make their lives miserable and a living hell until they begged for death.

'Make them pay! I said it before and i say it again. Join me and we can do great things together!' Tom said in his disembodied and raspy voice.

Harry had to shake his mental head at that to clear his thoughts. Revenge wasn't important right now, but Luna and Tonks were. With that cleared up he whispered soothing words into their ears. "I promise that as long as I am your friend I will do my best so that nobody will be able to harm you!" The emerald-eyed wizard promised and emphasized the last bit with squeezing them reassuringly. He didn't know what exactly Luna endured in that dungeon or what she had seen her captors do to others, but it couldn't be good.

"You promise?" Luna asked in a small and vulnerable, but slightly calmer voice. Her large silver eyes were clear as day and full of so much hope it was nearly hurtful to look at them. Tonks holding him tighter to his promise made clear she was asking the same thing as Luna.

Harry put on an honest smile, Luna would've seen through a false one anyway, answering. "I promise!" his voice not wavering once as he poured all the conviction he had into it. Which was quite a lot. The trio stayed in that position for a while, chatting about nothing, just enjoying each others presence.

The door opened a third time. Luckily there wasn't anyone else besides the three of them to disturb. Most people were home with their families, in St. Mungos hospital or dead. Harry could stay because he had no lasting injury that needed tending to. Tonk's condition wasn't treatable by normal means, as was Luna's. A quick illusion spell saw Harry back to his scrawny self.


End file.
